College TV channels will not be reappearing at Tufts

Despite continuing to grow in popularity on campuses across the country, television channels aimed at college populations will not be reappearing on televisions at Tufts any time soon.

The last attempt to bring a commercial channel to Tufts did not succeed. In 2000, the College Television Network (CTN), a subsidiary of MTV, placed monitors in Dewick-MacPhie and broadcast original programming and music videos.

Problems emerged soon after the broadcasts began. According to Director of Dining Services Patti Klos, who negotiated the original agreement with CTN, "the equipment was being repeatedly vandalized." When Dewick employees found cut power cords and ketchup on the screens, Klos decided "it just wasn't worth it."

Students complained the televisions were loud and distracting, and eventually the televisions were shut off after a protest led by the Coalition for Social Justice and Non-Violence.

Though the televisions have been turned off, the University has still benefited from the original contract, Klos said, because signing on with CTN "was an opportunity to get monitors."

There is no legal issue over the Tufts-CTN split. According to Klos, "CTN knows the TVs were turned off. [The network] doesn't want to be somewhere they're not wanted."

With the failure three years in the past and a mostly new student body, there is a new interest in bringing back a commercial network. "I don't know how useful it would be," freshman Connor Quinn said, "but some of the programs sound interesting."

According to Carlo DiMarko, who was the vice president of affiliate marketing at CTN and visited Tufts at the time of the controversy, the true opinion of the student body did not come out. Students who favor the service are often more passive in their support, DiMarko said, and they "obviously won't become preachers for the network."

The key for another network to succeed on campus would be finding the right programming angle, DiMarko said. Though CTN's music-centered programming was unsuccessful at Tufts, one of the other major campus networks might be a future substitute.

CTN's main competitors, National Lampoon Network and Zilo Networks have programming that ranges from an anti-Martha Stewart cooking show to college-centric versions of Survivor and The Osbournes.

Networks like National Lampoon and MTV are involved in fierce competition for the exclusive rights to air college-specific programming in dorm rooms and common areas across the US. While college students watch shows created specifically for them, advertisers can focus on the desirable 18- to 21-year-old demographic.

College networks have grown in popularity in the last few years. Over 1,300 campuses now broadcast at least one channel.

Since the CTN controversy, there have been several changes to television programming on campus.TuftsLife.com installed electronic screens around the campus, which display upcoming campus events.

Tufts Television (TUTV) now broadcasts several shows campus-wide, but they are only viewable on private televisions and on the campus intranet.